Gregg:

Very well done (and congrats on getting it published) . . . !!

Some further thoughts, focusing on causality (and Aristotle) --

1) What causes *paradigms* (aka "worldviews") to happen? (Hint: new  
technologies as "social forms.")

2) Metaphysics requires *formal* cause -- as Aristotle told us in his  
"Metaphysics" (i.e. 350BC).  So its "disappearance" is linked to a  
shift in our understanding of causality (continuing right up to  
today.)  Why did that happen (i.e. what was the formal cause of the  
loss of formal cause)?

3) What you call "Christian" metaphysics (i.e. pre-Enlightenment) was  
mostly Catholic (in Europe), so Protestantism (which largely  
side-stepped metaphysics, instead focusing on "salvation," since the  
2nd Coming was widely anticipated) needs to be accounted for, with its  
emphasis on *final* cause.  Furthermore, Catholic metaphysics  
(particularly in terms of your continuum) was largely based on  
Aristotle.

4) Max Weber told us that the "world has become disenchanted" in his  
1917 "Science as a Vocation" lecture, following on Nietzsche's 1880s  
"God is dead."  This was *not* the view of the Enlightenment -- where  
most of the people remained explicitly Christian -- and this "atheist"  
change coincided with *modern* psychology (remembering that there has  
always been psychology, typically embedded in medicine).  Which  
technology formally caused that to happen?

5) Freud is an interesting figure.  He was trained by Franz Brentano,  
who was a Dominican priest and who taught him Aquinas (and Aristotle.)  
  Why did Freud turn his back on his own training?  "Christian  
metaphysics" isn't the same as the *theology* you describe -- which is  
why "faith" and "reason" have always been separated, most recently in  
a 1998 Papal Encyclical titled "Fide et Ratio."

6) How did Claude Shannon's work provide "a new perspective on  
causation"?  Yes, I know that the earlier "Newtonian" approach has  
been called "reductionist" and the new one "holistic" but which  
*cause* does that invoke?  Efficient/kinetic cause was destroyed by  
early-20th century science but all they came up with to replace it was  
"probability."  Complexity science retrieves *material* cause (thus  
the "Big Bang" and all the talk about matter), so is that what you  
mean by a "new perspective"?

7) Aristotle details your "basic psychology" in his "On the Soul" --  
which has been the topic of a class we're teaching this summer at the  
Center.  My guess is that the future "language game" will have to come  
to grips with "mind" (an empirical term) vs. "soul" (a metaphysical  
one that long predated Christianity &c.)  The Greek term for the  
English term "soul" is *psyche* (from which we get "pscyhology.")

8) Specifically human behavior takes us to Aristotle's "Ethics,"  
"Politics" &c.  As we've been discovering, today's ignorance about  
what Aristotle actually said (and why he said it) is overwhelming.   
Cherry-picking (with what seems to be noses -firmly-held) is about as  
good as it gets.  Why would that be?

9) There can be no "improvement of human well-being" without a  
*paradigm* change.  The acceptance of your ToK also depends on that  
shift.  The symptoms you describe apply to the old one.  But, alas, we  
are already in a new one.  Yes, that's good news for us all.

Mark

Quoting "Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx" <[log in to unmask]>:

> Hi List,
>   I received notice that the attached chapter has been accepted for  
> publication in a book on re-envisioning psychology. It spells out  
> the argument that mainstream psychology has been lost to empiricism  
> and failed to appreciate that it also needs a coherent metaphysical  
> system, defined as the concepts and categories that we use to  
> describe reality and how we know about it.
>
>   A recommendation from the editor was to shorten some of the ToK  
> stuff, as he noted I have published lots on that and to focus more  
> on the future implications of such a system.
>
>   Per usual, if you have enough interest to read and provide  
> feedback, I always welcome that.
>
> Hope everyone is well.
>
> Peace,
> G
>
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